OyaPay, an offline payment and checkout company, which lets users pay merchants with their smartphone by scanning a QR code, has released a timely update to its mobile application. This time, adding one very important feature. The feature, “Order ahead” allows users…
Singapore’s CredoLab, a mobile-based alternative credit scoring solutions for banks, consumer finance companies, and retailers has raised US$1 million equity round from Walden International to expand internationally. According to Kris Leong, vice president of Walden International, “There is a big pool of unbanked consumers in Asia with…
Connecticut Innovations, a U.S. investor in early-stage technology companies has launched VentureClash, its global venture challenge in Nigeria targeting disruptive startups in digital health, fintech, IoT and insurtech. The $5 million contest kicked off in March with the first round of applications and…
Being ambitious is great. However, making that ambition a reality is one of the biggest challenges many people are currently facing. This is not the case for Elizabeth Rossiello, the CEO and founder of Bitpesa, one of Kenya’s leading digital payment platforms….
Cowrywise is a platform (now includes an app) that allows you to save automatically, right from your bank account. They are a real testament to how fintech is making life easy for everyone. With this, you do not have to worry about…
Off-grid solar company Pawame has been selected as a semi-finalist for the Innovate for Refugees Competition organized by the MIT Enterprise Forum – Pan-Arab Region for generating affordable, clean and safe energy to the residents of Kakuma Refugee Camp in northwestern Kenya. According…
Talent development is the single greatest challenge most firms in emerging markets face. To help solve these problems, LeapFrog Investments has launched the LeapFrog Talent Accelerator (LTA), the private equity industry’s first talent development programme for CEOs, C-suite executives and middle managers in…
Direct Pay Online Group (DPO) has mastered the fasted way of growth acquiring already exisiting companies with customers instead of going for the customers itself directly. The firm today acquired Setcom (Pty) Ltd, which operates SID Instant EFT, the original and leading…
Kenya’s peer-to-peer lending platform Pezesha has unveiled a new feature allowing borrowers to apply for loans via SMS. The firm said the feature will require borrowers to only send the word “Apply” to Pezesha’s SMS short code 22235 to get loans instantly. These feature will also…
When I interview founders that have launched a startup in the FinTech sector, I am always eager to know what they view as the biggest challenge in their sector. Do I need to emphasize the rise of start-ups in this sector that…
Big Data as one of the most important digital trends is changing the business environment. Business entities no longer have to undergo the struggle of processing huge chunks of raw data manually since with the necessary technology infrastructure work has been made…
Zazu, which began at the Ignite Accelerator as an e-commerce platform for farmers has raised over £200,000 for a 7.51% equity at a pre-money valuation of £2.5m to build a digital-only bank in Africa, bringing financial inclusion to millions. Co-founded by Perseus Mlambo, CEO, Adam Farah, CTO and Alessandra MartiniCOO, the…
SolarNow has received a $6 million facility lead by SunFunder with the participation of responsAbility Investments AG and Oikocredit to expand their pay-as-you-go or solar lease offerings to reach more people living without access to energy. The $6 million facility is SolarNow’s second structured asset finance instrument,…
Financial inclusion and telecommunications expert Topy Muga is one of the TechWomen emerging women leaders in Africa. In fact, The techie is actually a decorated financial inclusion and fintech personality with a very impressive experience in the digital world, spanning thirteen years….
Rocket Internet-backed Jumia has launched an online lending programme for its merchants in Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco and Ivory Coast helping them borrow loans to grow their inventory, and help it become an everyday and everything store. By leveraging on transactional, operational…
Kenya’s Pezesha.com a peer-to-peer micro-lending marketplace for Africa has been selected to participate at the upcoming Blackbox Connect 20 accelerator programme, a two-week residential programme for startup founders from across the globe. Holding in Silicon Valley in November this year, Blackbox is…
Y Combinator start-up Oolu, an off-grid solar companies in Senegal has raised $3.2m led by Persistent Energy Capital (PEC), and was joined by Y Combinator (YC) and other seed investors. Oolu will use the money to further invest in its current…
Direct pay Online Group has revamped its little known payments app Dumapay pairing the card reader and the merchants’ phone using Bluetooth to help merchants save time every time they want to make a sale. The company said through a statement that…
Digital money transfer firm WorldRemit has partnered with Morocco-based financial services firm Wafacash to scale up instant money transfers across West and Central Africa. The companies already work together in Morocco and Senegal, but will expand into Cameroon, Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger…
With the advent of Internet of Things, data is one of the most important assets in the world yet its not covered by standard property insurance policies. Therefore any interruption to an organisation’s systems means an interruption to firms to conduct their…
Kenya’s Maisha Microfinance Bank has partnered with Airtel Money to launch M-Fanisi – a savings and loan mobile money solution targeted at Airtel Money subscribers to help them save and borrow money via their mobile phones. According to Prasanta Das Sarma,…
Mobile financial services firm Branch has confirmed it raised KSh200m through a commercial paper arranged by Kenya’s Nabo Capital as TechMoran had earlier reported. The firm has officially launched in Nigeria too, after reaching 450,000 customers in Kenya who have collectively taken…
Tunisian online finance news startup Ilboursa.com has raised $400,000 to expand to its news offerings in the MENA region and eventually expand to Kenya & Nigeria, reports Wamda. The French-language startup sold 33 percent of its equity to Tunisian investment firm COTIF Sicar…
Afrinsure is a new online insurance insurance comparison site and marketplace in Kenya promising its users a huge inventory of insurance covers to compare and pick from and save money. Founded last year by Jaime ter Linden, Afrinsure aims to increase market…
Standard Bank Group, has joined the INV Fintech accelerator program as a Partner, INV announced today. Standard Bank which is the largest bank in Africa, joins several innovation-oriented financial services companies as INV Partners. The partnership will open up the African Fintech…
Wala is a digital banking platform for Africa making banking FREE for everyone and completely changes the way consumer’s access, engage with, and use financial products and services. From accounts, to payments, to insurance, Wala aims to make personal finance easier or…
Google has launched a new digital payment app named Google Tez for the Indian market. The app supports English and seven Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu. It is available for both Android and iOS platforms. Google…
